Stoned (Unlikely Heroes Book 4) Page 21

  Viper already had the construction of a lab underway at the compound and had ordered the supplies they would need. He’d also converted a giant room into a grow room with artificial lights, fans, and a humidifier. The man was serious about this.

  Stoner feared his time with Karen was drawing to an end. If only he could find an opportunity to help her escape…

  Then on the fourth day, his worst fear came true.

  Viper summoned him to his office.

  “You’ve got the cloning down pat now, right? You can do it on your own?”

  Stoner hesitated. Karen had deliberately mislead him. She hadn’t shown him the proper way to micropropagate. Though he now had a general idea how it worked, there was no way he could do it on his own. But if he admitted that to Viper, not only would he look like an idiot, but Karen would likely be punished. So he lied. “I think so, yeah. But this is just the first phase. Once the explants start growing, they will need to be transplanted into larger containers until they reach a bigger size. She hasn’t shown me how to do that part yet.”

  Viper waved his arm in dismissal. “That part doesn’t bother me. That should be simple enough. I just need you to know how to get the cuttings started in the lab. Can you do that?”

  Stoner heaved out a sigh. It was too soon. He needed more time so he could help her escape.

  “Yeah.”

  Viper nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Tomorrow I want you to get rid of her. Make her think you’re going back to her house to clone another batch, but then take her into the woods and kill her. I’ll be sending Scorpion, Grizzly and Rebel with you to make sure you get it done. If you don’t do it, they will, and they’ll let me know if you refuse. Got it?”

  Shit.

  “Why can’t I just keep her here?” Stoner asked, knowing Viper wouldn’t go for it, but trying just the same. “She’s my woman now. She’ll behave. She won’t cause any trouble. I promise.”

  Viper shook his head back and forth. “She hasn’t taken the oath. She’s just a prisoner here, nothing more. You knew that when we first brought her here. You don’t think she’ll open her mouth to the first person she runs into outside of here and tell them what we do here? I told you not to get attached to her. You knew this was coming. If you refuse to do it, I’ll just have one of the others take care of her. Tomorrow morning, get it done.”

  He pulled open his office door and motioned Stoner out.

  Stoner left, his heart heavy with dread. How the hell was he supposed to kill the only woman he’d ever cared about? She was a part of him now, the other half he’d been missing all these years. Without her, he wouldn’t be whole.

  What the hell was he going to do?

  * * *

  “We’ve got a problem.” Scorpion stood out in the hallway, his face filled with worry.

  Viper motioned Scorpion into his office and closed the door.

  “What now?”

  “Ms. Williams’ family is back. Her daughter just texted her and said they were home and on their way into town to get groceries and that they would stop by her house to visit on their way back.” He held up the woman’s cell phone that Viper had asked him to monitor.

  Viper groaned and turned away. “What about the starts in her lab? Can we get them out of there before the family shows up?”

  Scorpion shrugged. “I don’t know. Should I text back and tell them she’s not there or something?”

  “Give me the phone.”

  Scorpion handed it over. Viper thought for a moment, then texted the daughter back.

  I’m in CDA shopping. I should be back later this evening. Why don’t you come over tomorrow instead?

  He pressed “send.”

  A few moments later, a text came in.

  Okay, see you tomorrow then. I’ll call you in the morning.

  “Disaster averted, temporarily.” He handed the phone back to Scorpion. “You need to get over to her house today and bring all the lab starts here. I want you cleaned out before the family gets there.”

  “What about Ms. Williams?” Scorpion asked. “Is Stoner going to take care of her?”

  “He was supposed to do it tomorrow morning, but now he’s going to have to do it tonight.” Viper paused. “Get Grizzly, Rebel and Stoner in here. It’s time for a meeting.”

  * * *

  Later that afternoon Karen visited with Tonya in her room. Karen held Damon while Tonya took a shower. Then they sat and visited while Tonya nursed her son.

  Someone knocked on the door. Karen rose to answer it, surprised to see Stoner standing out in the hallway. His expressionless face told her something was wrong. Karen followed him out into the hall. There was a coldness about him, a lack of emotion that reminded her of how he’d been when she’d first met him out in the forest. Dread settled into her chest.

  “Come on.” He took her arm. “We have to go.”

  “Go where?”

  “Viper wants us to get everything from the lab at your house and bring it here. We’re done there now. He’s got the lab almost ready here.”

  She yanked her arm out of his grasp, her heart pounding. That meant they were done with her and Viper would kill her soon. Probably now.

  “No. I won’t do it.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Don’t fight with me, Karen. We have to go. Now.”

  “You bastard. He’s going to kill me now, isn’t he? How can you just stand back and let him do this? How could you? Why won’t you help me?”

  He didn’t answer. He took her arm again and propelled her forward. “Let’s go.”

  Grizzly, Rebel and Scorpion were waiting for them out front in the truck. They had the bed of the truck packed with boxes to haul everything over from the lab. Sadness filled her chest as they headed down the road toward her house. Her chest squeezed with the realization that today was the last time she would see Stoner, that today she would die. She had to find a way to stop this. She wasn’t ready to die. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Stoner.

  When they arrived at her house, the bikers began loading the boxes with her lab supplies. Though her first instinct was to shout and block them from taking her things, what was the use? They were going to kill her anyway. But she’d be damned if she helped them take away her livelihood. She refused to show them how to pack and haul the explants that needed tender care until they reached a certain size. Though the explants weren’t showing any signs of growth yet, she wasn’t about to help them along. It was just marijuana anyway, so she wanted it to die. She wanted all of it to die.

  Stoner tried to get her to help. She backed away, glaring up at him, her heart pinching with misery.

  “How can you do this after what we shared? How can you act like there’s nothing between us? I will not help you take everything away from me, you son-of-a-bitch! This lab is how I support myself. Without it, I have no job, no way to live.”

  But if they were going to kill her, what did it matter?

  Something flashed in his eyes, but it was so fast she couldn’t decipher what it was before he snagged her arm and dragged her into the lab with them.

  “You will help. Now start packing.” He thrust a box at her.

  That was when she lost it. She couldn’t take his coldness anymore. Yanking open the grow chamber, she snatched up a handful of test tubes filled with tiny explants and threw them against the glass wall. Glass exploded as the test tubes shattered and tiny green explants fell to the floor. Everyone turned to her in shock. Before they could move, she reached into the grow chamber and pulled out more test tubes and slammed them on the floor. She reached into the grow chamber for another handful. Stoner’s hand snaked out, stopping her.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  She fought and pulled at his grip, but he wouldn’t let her go. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m destroying them.”

  Scorpion snatched up his cellphone and turned away from them as he spoke into it. Karen didn’t care who he was calling.

  “That wa
s a very stupid thing to do,” Stoner said softly, but she glimpsed a flash of worry in his eyes. When he next spoke, there was menace in his voice. “Now Viper’s going to be extra pissed.”

  “Good. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll kill you so I don’t have to see your lying, using, back-stabbing face again!”

  Stoner’s gaze bored into hers, cold, hard, unyielding. Uncaring. Damn him, when he closed himself off like this, she couldn’t read him.

  “I’ll take great pleasure in killing you, Ms. Williams. You’re nothing but a pain in my ass.”

  Ms. Williams? He’d never called her Ms. Williams before.

  Her heart stopped. Stoner had gone berserk. Had they drugged him? Where was the man she’d been falling in love with over the past week and a half?

  Scorpion stuffed the cellphone in his pocket. He motioned them out of the lab. Stoner shoved her forward in front of him and out into the greenhouse.

  “Viper said to do it now, Stoner. He’s pissed.”

  Scorpion held a knife out to Stoner. Stoner took it from him. Karen flinched.

  He marched her out of the greenhouse and past the other bikers. Rebel’s eyes widened and Karen glimpsed fear in his gaze before he jerked his face away.

  All the bikers followed them out into Karen’s backyard.

  “Kneel.” Stoner shoved her down into the grass beneath the pines.

  Too shocked to protest, she went down to her knees, her heart pounding in terror. Stoner was the one who was going to kill her.

  A sob burst from her lungs.

  Not Viper.

  Stoner.

  Pain exploded in her chest.

  No. Not Stoner.

  He couldn’t do this to her. He couldn’t. There was something special between them. She’d felt it. It was real. She knew it was real. Didn’t he feel it too? Didn’t he believe in them? Didn’t he care?

  Was that why he was being so cold, because he’d been trying to distance himself from her so he could do the deed? So he could kill her? How long had he known about this? Had he been playing her all along—using her—all the while knowing he would have to kill her in the end?

  Her heart pinched. How could he do this? How could he even contemplate this? She’d thought he cared for her. Because damn him, she cared about him.

  A tear trickled down her cheek. “Please.” She tilted her head back to gaze up at him. “Don’t do this, Stoner. Please.” It was too painful to bear.

  He stared at something near his feet, refusing to meet her gaze. His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

  “Please,” she tried again, unable to control the sobs that erupted from her throat. “Don’t do this. I thought we had something special. I thought you cared.” She hitched in a breath. “Damn you, Stoner. You know I’m falling in love with you. Don’t you care?”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. “Fuck.”

  “Get on with it, Stoner.” Grizzly took a step toward them. Scorpion lifted his cellphone and spoke into it again. Karen had no doubt he was talking to Viper.

  “Please Stoner,” she whispered, reaching a hand up to cup his cheek.

  Stoner hissed out a breath and knocked her hand aside. “Shut up, Karen. Just…shut up.” He grasped her by the chin and tilted her head back toward him, exposing the soft flesh of her throat. He lifted the knife. She felt cold steel as he pressed the blade against her neck. Karen didn’t fight him. What was the use? If she meant so little to him that he could snuff out her life like this, then he could rot in hell. Besides, if he didn’t kill her, one of the other bikers would. Fighting would only delay the inevitable.

  She stared up at his expressionless face, willing him to look her in the eye, to see how much his betrayal hurt. But he wouldn’t look at her.

  “Please,” she whispered, trying one last time. She swallowed hard. “Please don’t kill me. I don’t even know your real name.”

  Stoner tensed. His hand trembled against her throat.

  He lowered his head, his breath tickling her ear.

  “My real name’s Craig.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Craig. His name is Craig.

  Everything after that happened in a blur.

  Stoner swung around and flung the knife at Grizzly’s head. Karen let out a horrified scream as the knife embedded sideways into Grizzly’s face, lodging at an angle into his left eye. Grizzly let out a guttural sound and fell backward onto the ground. He rolled to the left, then the right, groaning and hissing. Then he went still and didn’t move.

  Scorpion shouted in outrage and rushed at Stoner, tackling him to the ground. Stoner let out a grunt as they landed and Karen imagined his broken ribs were hurting him.

  Rebel stared wide-eyed as the two men grappled across the ground.

  “Run Karen!” Stoner screamed just before Scorpion slammed a fist into his face. “Get away from here!”

  Craig. His name is Craig.

  At last she knew his real name.

  He’d saved her. It had all been an act so the other bikers wouldn’t suspect what he was about to do. An overwhelming sense of relief swept through her. Her heart swelled. He did care. She hadn’t imagined that.

  She couldn’t abandon him now.

  Karen rushed at the struggling combatants, waiting for a moment to move in and tackle Scorpion. Maybe if she could grab his dreadlocks she could jerk him away.

  Rebel eyed her across the top of flailing fists and rolling bodies. “You’d better run, Karen. Viper’s on his way.”

  Her heart skipped a beat.

  Screw Viper. Let him come.

  She couldn’t leave Stoner. She wouldn’t leave him. Not now.

  She shook her head at Rebel. “I’m not leaving him. I can’t.”

  Stoner had told her his real name.

  Craig. His name is Craig.

  She rolled the name around in her head. Craig. It fit him. Craig.

  Rebel swallowed hard. He nodded in understanding.

  Loud rumbling engines echoed across the forest. A stream of motorcycles screeched to a halt in Karen’s driveway, the sound of flying gravel reverberating through the pines.

  Shit. Viper was here.

  “Freeze!” a male voice shouted from the trees. “FBI!”

  Karen spun around, staring wide-eyed. Her son-in-law Nick stepped forward with gun drawn and pointed it at Rebel.

  “Down on the ground!”

  Stoner managed to land a punch in Scorpion’s face. He flipped the other man off him. “Run Karen!”

  She glanced back at Nick, who advanced on Rebel. Rebel didn’t fight. He lifted his arms in the air and slowly got down on the ground.

  She swung her gaze back to Stoner.

  “Not without you.”

  “Goddammit, Karen, can’t you just do what I tell you for once?”

  Before she could move, black leather-clad bikers came out of the trees and swarmed around them like migrating locusts. There were at least fifteen of them, all wearing jackets with the Cobra logo on back. All carrying guns. Viper had come prepared for war. Why? What had happened? Had Scorpion’s call alerted him to what was going on? And where had Nick come from? He and April weren’t supposed to be back for a few more days.

  “Drop the gun!” A beefy bald guy shouted at Nick. The bikers marched forward, their guns trained on Nick.

  Nick hesitated, his gaze on Karen’s, then he let the gun fall to the ground. Two of the bikers rushed forward and yanked his hands behind his back. They zip-tied his wrists together.

  Viper strode forward. He dragged Scorpion away from Stoner. “Get up!” he snarled. “What the hell happened here?” His gaze centered on Grizzly’s body lying near the edge of the grass, then darted back to Karen. He pointed a finger at her. “You are starting to royally piss me off Ms. Williams! And you!” He jerked his finger at Stoner, who rose from the ground, grimacing in pain. “I knew I couldn’t trust you to get the job done. It’s a damn good thing I decided to fol
low you.” He bent and scooped up Nick’s gun from the ground.

  He lifted the gun, pointed it at Nick’s head.

  “No!” Karen rushed at Viper and grabbed his arm. “Please don’t kill him! You’ll leave my daughter without a husband and my granddaughter without a father! Please don’t do it, please!”

  Viper flung her aside. She stumbled backward and fell into the grass. Viper turned back to Nick. “What are you doing here, Nick Miller of the FBI? Your wife’s text said you wouldn’t be showing up until tomorrow morning.”

  What text? Karen pulled her gaze back to Nick.

  “Karen doesn’t shop in Coeur d’Alene,” Nick said. “And she would never tell April to wait and come over the next day. We knew something was wrong when we got that text, so I came over to investigate.”

  Stoner came up beside Karen. He lifted a hand out to help her to her feet. She hesitated, then took his hand and rose.

  His gaze filled with resignation as it latched onto hers. He heaved out a sigh. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “Let’s get moving!” Viper shouted. “Box up all the stuff from the lab and load it into the truck. Take everything, every test tube, every tumbler, every vial…leave her with nothing.”

  The bikers rushed to do his bidding.

  Viper’s gaze swung back to Karen.

  Her heart filled with dread. Everything had just gone from bad to worse.

  But Karen refused to cower. She lifted her chin in defiance. “You might want to know I never showed Stoner the correct way to clone pot. So if you kill me now, you’ll have no way to produce marijuana in the lab.”

  Viper stalked toward her. His hand arced out, striking her across the face. She gasped, stumbling back, and clutched her throbbing cheek. Stoner tensed beside her, but he didn’t interfere.

  “You stupid little bitch. What kind of game have you been playing?”

  “I told you I would not help you grow pot! It’s illegal!”

  Viper slapped her again. Harder. She cried out and tripped backward, her face throbbing. Her eyes stung with tears that pushed free and trickled down her cheeks. She turned to glare up at him.